In second year in L.A., Rams hope latest transition brings more wins

At age 31, Sean McVay is the youngest head coach in the NFL but is also considered one of the brightest. The Rams are hoping he can add energy, innovation and, of course, more wins.(Photo: JAYNE KAMIN-ONCEA/USA TODAY SPORTS)

It took more than 30 tractor trailers and three stops to return the Rams to Southern California a year ago.

And yet, for all the changes the franchise endured off the field, the on-field results in Los Angeles bore a striking resemblance to what fans had suffered through in St. Louis.

The first season in Southern California since 1994, the first in Los Angeles since 1979, was launched with "Hard Knocks" and the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

Then it crashed to earth with empty seats and bitter defeats. Eleven losses in the final 12 games made for a long limp to the 12th straight year without a playoff berth and a 13th consecutive season without a winning record.

What once was The Greatest Show on Turf had devolved into an unwatchable mess, no matter the playing surface. A second straight season as the worst offense in football cost head coach Jeff Fisher his job with three games to play.

“Anytime you let a head coach go, we all have to take a look in the mirror,” Rams chief operating officer Kevin Demoff said on Dec. 12. “We have to improve across the board.”

That introspection led Demoff and owner Stan Kroenke to make Sean McVay, the then-30-year-old Washington offensive coordinator, the youngest head coach in modern NFL history on Jan. 13.

“Age is not a factor here,” Demoff said. “This is really about Sean’s talents, his ability to lead and communicate, and what we think that will do for the Los Angeles Rams.”

And so, one year after uprooting the entire franchise and moving 2,000 miles west, the Rams entered yet another transformative offseason, albeit a more typical NFL transition.

“Those are some pretty big transitions,” linebacker Alec Ogletree said. “Going from one city to another and then, after that, the whole coaching staff leaves.”

A young roster, the vast majority of which had never played for another NFL head coach, was left to start over from scratch with new leadership.

“He definitely seems like a guy that’s been around a while,” Ogeltree said of McVay. “You can gravitate toward a guy like that because he’s young, energetic and you can definitely tell he has a lot of wisdom about him."

When he stepped foot on the Coliseum grass for the first time in June, McVay recalled watching the Rams' first game back in Los Angeles, the come-from-behind win over Dallas before the largest crowd in preseason history.

“I remember I was in Richmond coaching (at Washington’s training camp) and thinking, 'What an unbelievable atmosphere,' ” McVay said. “So you can see that this city is hungry for a great football product.

“It’s our job to be able to give the fans something that they can be proud of and give them a product that they want to root for consistently week in and week out.”

The Rams felt short of that aim a year ago. They scored the fewest points in the NFL, just 14 points per game, and mustered the franchise’s lowest mark in total offense (262.6 yards per game) since 1963.

It was, according to Football Outsiders’ metrics, the NFL’s worst offense since 2005.

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After winning the Rookie of the Year honors, Rams running back Todd Gurley struggled to find open spaces and yards in what some in the organization categorized as a "sophomore slump."(Photo: CHUCK KIRMAN/THE STAR)

The wall of sound that met the Cowboys in preseason game fell away as the losses piled up, as star running back Todd Gurley struggled through what general manager Les Snead would label a “sophomore slump,” as No. 1 overall pick Jared Goff went 0-7 as a rookie quarterback, as the heartbreaking losses of October and November turned into embarrassing blowouts in December.

“We all left with a nasty taste in our mouth,” defensive tackle Aaron Donald said.

Meanwhile, Washington was third in total offense, as McVay helped Kirk Cousins emerge as one of the most productive passers in football.

“We want to be an offense (gives) the quarterback answers,” McVay said. “You want to be able to distribute the ball. … When you feel like you’ve got a handful of playmakers, the idea is to kind of have that quarterback be a point guard and be a great distributor to all your guys.”

McVay has been hired to follow up his success with Cousins by putting Goff’s young career on track. It is the biggest priority of his first season as head coach.

Several players have already come forward to declare themselves as believers in their new coach, including the quarterback.

“I think right off the bat you can tell that his knowledge is extremely high, far higher than a lot of guys,” said Goff.

McVay retained three members of the former staff, special teams coordinator John Fassell, who was elevated to interim head coach for the final three games of the season, running backs coach Skip Peete and assistant offensive line coach Andy Dickerson.

“For us, the guys who have been here, I guess it’s a fresh start,” Ogletree said during the team’s offseason program in Thousand Oaks. “We’re just trying to get to know them as well as they’re trying to get to know us.”

There was also significant turnover on the roster. Almost a third of the players who ended the 2016 season with the team aren't in Irvine for the start of training camp, including 13 starters who combined to make 145 starts a year ago.

That figure includes receivers Kenny Britt and Brian Quick and tight end Lance Kendricks, who combined for 62 percent of the team’s receiving production; offensive line starters Tim Barnes and Greg Robinson; defensive leaders William Hayes, T.J. McDonald and Eugene Sims; special teams stalwarts Benny Cunningham and Chase Reynolds; and quarterback Case Keenum, who started the first nine games before yielding to Goff.

The Rams didn’t just move on from Fisher, they moved on from many of his veteran leaders.

A bigger motivation for the culling may have been salary-cap related. The moves allowed the Rams to add several veterans in free agency.

The duo of 35-year-old left tackle Andrew Whitworth and 31-year-old center John Sullivan, the only two players on the roster older than McVay, were signed to solidify the offensive line.

Whitworth, an All-Pro in Cincinnati, allowed the fewest pass pressures among NFL tackles in 2016, according to Pro Football Focus.

“He’s played at an extremely productive level and he’s a grown man,” McVay said.

Sullivan, whose health will be a key factor in the season, worked in Washington with McVay, who sees center as one of the most important positions on the field.

The hope is Lance Dunbar, signed from Dallas, can be the versatile type of running back that Chris Thompson was for McVay in Washington.

Former USC receiver Robert Woods has returned to Southern California and the Rams are counting on him to provide veteran leadership and be a dependable target.(Photo: KIRBY LEE/USA TODAY SPORTS)

Robert Woods, the former USC star, was signed from Buffalo to bring some experience to the receiver room, which now includes four players drafted over the past two years.

“He does all of the little things the right way,” McVay said. “He’s competing in the run game. He can play inside, outside.”

Outside linebacker Connor Barwin and cornerback Kayvon Webster, who played for Phillips in Houston and Denver, respectively, were brought in to help stabilize the defense’s move to his 3-4 system.

“Having his opinion on those guys and that intricate, inside knowledge … it’s why you’re glad to have a guy like Wade Phillips that we can all lean on,” McVay said.

The Rams added outside linebacker Connor Barwin, hoping to boost their pass rush and provide more veteran leadership to a young team.(Photo: ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE)

Perhaps part of the reason why the Rams always seemed to be building under Fisher, and never really arrived, was because of their perpetual youth.

They had the youngest roster to open the season in each of the past five years, according to an annual study by Jimmy Kempski of the Philly Voice.

In each of those years, the Rams’ roster was an average of about 25 years old. An early estimation of the 53-man roster shows the Rams trending toward a similarly youthful figure this fall.

While Fisher was fired, Snead was retained, which was seen as a clue to who had final say on personnel matters over the past five years.

But this hasn’t been a fun offseason for Snead, either.

The Rams have spun their wheels in contract negotiations with franchise cornerback Trumaine Johnson. They elected to spend $17 million to franchise tag the 27-year-old, who had one interception last season, for the second straight year, making him the highest-paid cornerback in the NFL.

Johnson looks set to hit the open market next year, which would be two years after the Rams lost two members of their starting secondary, safety Rodney McLeod and cornerback Janoris Jenkins, to free agency.

“I think Trumaine is going to be a fit in any system,” McVay said. “This is a talented corner.”

Perhaps worse, Donald, one of the top defensive players in the league, sat out organized team activities as the team and his representatives worked on a contract extension that has yet to materialize. He reportedly didn't show up for the first day veterans were to report to training camp Friday.

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Fans had a clear, consistent message for the Rams during their annual Ramfest at Prado Park in Chino -- sign star Aaron Donald to a contract extention.
Joe Curley/The Star

The Rams may be hamstrung by their cap situation. Even after saving money by dealing Robinson to Detroit, they have the least amount of cap space in the NFL, less than $4 million, according to overthecap.com.

The Rams also suffered a setback off the field during the offseason, announcing in May that the opening of their $2.6 billion stadium in Inglewood would be delayed a season until 2020.

The delay was blamed on record rainfall during the excavation phase of the project. In the aftermath, the NFL also pushed back the Super Bowl’s return to Los Angeles by a year, until 2022.

The Rams, in the meantime, will remain in the Coliseum, as the historic venue receives its own $220 million facelift.

After enduring radical changes off and on the field over the past two seasons, the Rams may remain a team in transition, as the seismic shifts of football in Los Angeles continue to settle.